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There was a quote recently from a high ranking former FBI agent that worked on money laundering where she said she wasn't really concerned about crypto making m

There was a quote recently from a high ranking former FBI agent that worked on money laundering where she said she wasn't really concerned about crypto making money laundering worse (trying to find the article again). Her reasoning was: "what people need to understand is, 95% of money laundering with fiat currency already succeeds today without getting caught." In other words, this won't really change much, it was already really hard to catch money laundering.

agumonkey 5y ago
interesting(ly sad) percentage .. I wonder how come nothing impedes their laundering that said I wonder if having another path won't make them even more hungry.. i'm sure criminals are very creative when it comes to making more money
- carlosdp 5y ago
  Money laundering doesn't really make money, it just legitimize it in the financial system.
  - agumonkey 5y ago
    it's the way criminal groups live, without laundering they can't use what they got, so more laundering equates potentially more activity for them
rllearneratwork 5y ago
of course crypto would not help criminal money laundering. Bitcoin and Etherium are very traceable by design. In fact, it is often much, much easier to trace to origin of Bitcoin funds than the origin of USD funds, especially when cash was involved. There are "private" coins like Monero but they aren't getting much traction.
- carlosdp 5y ago
  Monero is pretty popular in Venezuela right now.
  - minsc__and__boo 5y ago
    Monero is probably used more like a currency than BTC is.
    - fredfoobar 5y ago
      Monero and other crypto folks seem to rush in whenever Bitcoin is being attacked for something. I find it fascinating.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - anonporridge 5y ago
        I actually see monero as a kind of lurking beast in bitcoin's shadow, as if it's whispering "Oh, you think bitcoin with it's completely public ledger is bad and dangerous. Why yes, it's very, very bad. Please attack people who use it and show them why they need me." It's an interesting game that law enforcement is caught in. On the one hand, they want to demonize bitcoin because it's outside of their control. On the other hand, if they attack bitcoin users too strongly, they push people to alternatives like monero that are both outside of their control and legitimately untraceable in system. Which devil do you want to deal with?
      - minsc__and__boo 5y ago
        I'm not a monero folk and think it has no real world application outside of criminal dealings. Monero is being used as a currency though which is relevant because bitcoin used to be used as a currency too before the first bubble/speculators got a hold of it. It's critical to any conversation with claims about bitcoin being a great currency (it's not)
        5y ago
emodendroket 5y ago
Money laundering is one problem; getting a large payment of cash is another, particularly if you're in the business of, say, demanding ransoms. This story was posted recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27396804 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27396804
angry_octet 5y ago
Also shortsighted. With increased ability to convert between hard currency and bitcoin it will be more practical for criminals to move large amounts of cash. The overhead of existing money laundering is significant -- the expression "follow the money" exists because it's a useful attack on criminal activities.

agumonkey 5y ago

interesting(ly sad) percentage .. I wonder how come nothing impedes their laundering that said I wonder if having another path won't make them even more hungry.. i'm sure criminals are very creative when it comes to making more money

carlosdp 5y ago
Money laundering doesn't really make money, it just legitimize it in the financial system.
- agumonkey 5y ago
  it's the way criminal groups live, without laundering they can't use what they got, so more laundering equates potentially more activity for them

rllearneratwork 5y ago

of course crypto would not help criminal money laundering. Bitcoin and Etherium are very traceable by design. In fact, it is often much, much easier to trace to origin of Bitcoin funds than the origin of USD funds, especially when cash was involved. There are "private" coins like Monero but they aren't getting much traction.

carlosdp 5y ago
Monero is pretty popular in Venezuela right now.
- minsc__and__boo 5y ago
  Monero is probably used more like a currency than BTC is.
  - fredfoobar 5y ago
    Monero and other crypto folks seem to rush in whenever Bitcoin is being attacked for something. I find it fascinating.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - anonporridge 5y ago
      I actually see monero as a kind of lurking beast in bitcoin's shadow, as if it's whispering "Oh, you think bitcoin with it's completely public ledger is bad and dangerous. Why yes, it's very, very bad. Please attack people who use it and show them why they need me." It's an interesting game that law enforcement is caught in. On the one hand, they want to demonize bitcoin because it's outside of their control. On the other hand, if they attack bitcoin users too strongly, they push people to alternatives like monero that are both outside of their control and legitimately untraceable in system. Which devil do you want to deal with?
    - minsc__and__boo 5y ago
      I'm not a monero folk and think it has no real world application outside of criminal dealings. Monero is being used as a currency though which is relevant because bitcoin used to be used as a currency too before the first bubble/speculators got a hold of it. It's critical to any conversation with claims about bitcoin being a great currency (it's not)
      - 5y ago

emodendroket 5y ago

Money laundering is one problem; getting a large payment of cash is another, particularly if you're in the business of, say, demanding ransoms. This story was posted recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27396804 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27396804

angry_octet 5y ago

Also shortsighted. With increased ability to convert between hard currency and bitcoin it will be more practical for criminals to move large amounts of cash. The overhead of existing money laundering is significant -- the expression "follow the money" exists because it's a useful attack on criminal activities.